Jobs To Answer Questions In iTunes Antitrust Suit

Even on his leave of absence, Apple CEO Steve Jobs has kept quite busy with the iPad 2 launch and all. However, it was determined today that he'll have to add something else to his agenda. He was ordered today to answer questions surrounding an antitrust lawsuit that alleges Apple has operated a music-downloading monopoly.Bloomberg is reporting that lawyers for consumers who had originally filed the complaint in 2005 have won permission to conduct limited questioning of Jobs, thanks to an order issued yesterday by U.S. Magistrate Judge Howard R. Lloyd in San Jose, California. However, the deposition cannot go past two hours and the only topic allowed is changes that Apple made to its software in October 2004, that had made digital music files by RealNetworks Inc. incompatible with the iPod.

"The court finds that Jobs has unique, non-repetitive, firsthand knowledge about the issues at the center of the dispute over RealNetworks software," writes Lloyd.

iTunes customer Thomas Slattery had sued Apple in 2005 seeking class-action on behalf of consumers making a claim that Apple had illegally limited consumer choice by linking the iPod to its iTunes music store.

Kristin Huguet, a spokeswoman with Apple declined comment.

This isn't the first time that iTunes has been the subject of regulation scrutiny however.

Apple had agreed to lower prices on iTunes tracks sold in the U.K. in 2008 thanks to a European Union Competition Commission inquiry that had begun in 2005. In that case, Apple had faced inquiries from regulators in Norway, Sweden and Denmark over complaints that songs sold on iTunes were not compatible with music players other than the iPod.

Then, in May 2010, the U.S. Justice Department's antitrust division had begun making preliminary inquiries into Apple's business practices regarding iTunes, said two people who were familiar with the issue at the time.

In the RealNetworks case, Slattery had asserted antitrust claims that had allegedly arose from Apple encoding digital music files with a proprietary software named FairPlay. This software allowed for music files purchased from iTunes to only be compatible with iPods, not those made by other manufacturers. FairPlay had also prevented digital music sold by other companies' online stores from being played on iPods as well.

"We have not yet scheduled a deposition," said Bonny E. Sweeney, a San Diego lawyer who is representing the plaintiffs in the case, today in a phone interview.

Should any further developments on this come about, we will certainly keep you posted!Follow this article's author, Matthew Tilmann on Twitter(Image courtesy of digitaltrends.com)